♣Me at Age Six

 

 

 

♣Me at Age Six

 

A year and a few months went by, and I turned six years old. I became capable of more tasks and was allowed to do more without supervision. I started brewing not just low-grade but medium-grade tonics regularly, and I also started helping out with the cooking. Honestly speaking, I was already better than Dad was!

And also…

“Tina, time to go back.”

“Okay!”

I rose to my feet, the bouquet of flowers in my hands releasing petals into the wind. We were in front of a few graves, fashioned from circular tree stumps. There were names etched on the wood. The one in the middle was Grandma, on the right was Dad’s brother, and the left one was Grandpa, who passed away last year.

His death was probably unavoidable. He was already sick, and there was no curing his condition. The powder medicine I made could only alleviate his symptoms. The saving grace was that he passed away painlessly… I’ll never forget how Dad patted me on the head, looking at Grandpa’s serene face with kind eyes…

I had to wonder, where do people go when they die in this world? Do they simply reincarnate, like I did, with their memories intact?

So, if we meet again, will I be older than them this time? Grandma, Grandpa…

“That’s Giyaga’s caravan.”

“Oh, it really is.”

We spotted a row of large wagons rolling along the highway. Drawn on the wagons’ canopies was the mark of the chimera, a Mythical Beast. Apparently, Mister Giyaga was a merchant who was saved in his youth by a chimera. Of course, it might have just been a story he cooked up to help sell his wares…

Mister Giyaga was a fan of the Rofola Lodge and a regular patron of ours. He traveled to Fei Lu, and sometimes even went as far as the demi-human continent to restock, then sold his wares in De Marl’s markets. He would also occasionally stop at a roadside inn and offer his services to traveling adventurers.

He looked like someone who might run a circus troupe, but he was actually a very nice man and a serious merchant.

“Oh! Marcus. I’ve got a real nice treat for you this time,” Mister Giyaga greeted Dad.

“Hey. Thanks. Kinda feel bad about you giving us all these freebies.”

Since he was a regular patron at the Rofola Lodge, Mister Giyaga often brought Dad little presents from his travels. He had a long nose, like Pinocchio’s, that always pointed up at the sky, and a self-satisfied smile. His gifts were usually on the strange side, but today, he seemed particularly smug and confident.

“Hello? Mm…? Hey, we’re here,” he called to something in the carriage. “What’s with that scary face? Huh? Timing…? Ah, fine… Sorry, the special treat still needs time to collect itself before it comes out.”

“What are you talking about?” Dad asked Giyaga.

“Well, it’ll come out later. Forget that, though! How’re you doing, Tinaris? I got you a present too! Look at this.”

“I-Is that…?!” My eyes widened at the gift he showed me.

It was a small bottle full of tiny, colorful balls. But besides that, he had a fine, purplish powder!

“Are those Murder Moth scales?!” I asked him excitedly.

“Uh? Why does this powder have such a dangerous name?” Dad asked aghast.

“Huh, so you care about that more than the gumdrops, do you? I see…” Giyaga seemed a bit disappointed.

“I mean, the powder’s so much rarer!” I told him. “It’s actually amazing; it’s used to make a perfect, supreme antidote!”

“A supreme antidote? Really?” Dad sounded surprised.

Mister Giyaga still looked heartbroken though. I wasn’t sure why. It made sense Dad wouldn’t get it, since he didn’t know much about alchemy anyway. But as Dad and Mister Giyaga gave me little presents like this, I’d look them up in the alchemy manuals… And before I knew it, I’d become really knowledgeable about alchemical ingredients!

Or, well… I was about average compared to other alchemists. That’s how I felt. It wasn’t really my fault, since I was self-taught. If I wanted to seriously study alchemy, I’d need to go to a dedicated school in one of the countries.

And honestly, I wasn’t so keen on learning that I’d throw everything away to go study. So, for now, I was just polishing up on what I could. And learning how to make things we didn’t have using alchemy was pure fun!

“Murder Moths are an unusual breed of moth that inhabits the massive tree forest in the east,” Mister Giyaga explained. “They’re about as big as a person’s head, and they kill people by sitting on their faces and suffocating them.”

“Well, damn. I can see why they call ’em that,” Dad muttered.

“I brought over a few other things I figured Tinaris might want. Deadly Scorpion stingers, Venom Lizard claws, and Toxic Serpent’s fangs,” he said, smiling at me.

“She’s six; why do all the gifts you give her have toxic names?!” Dad groaned.

“Yay!” I cheered.

“You’re happy about these things?!”

“It’s because they’re all ingredients for the supreme antidote! I’ll run over and start making it!”

“D-Don’t do it inside the house! Are these things safe?!”

“It’s fine! You’re supposed to put them in the pot with their bottles!”

“With their bottles?!”

The recipe book did recommend making antidotes in places with good ventilation. To that end, I would need to take the gifts Mister Giyaga brought me last year—a pot and staff made specifically for alchemy purposes—and work my magic near the lake instead of inside.

Mister Giyaga probably brought those ingredients specifically so I could make the antidote, and he could buy it off me. I’ll get to it as soon as we finish here!

“And I bought her these gumdrops from the demi-human continent… They’re all the rage there too. But Tinaris is more interested in alchemy ingredients, huh…” Mister Giyaga sighed sadly.

“Thanks for playing along with her hobbies, Giyaga,” Dad told him. “But half the reason you did this was so you could have her make tonics and then buy it off her, right?”

“Well, I am a merchant… But being a fan of this little girl is hard on the heart. Gives me such mixed feelings, I suppose. I’d just like to see her get happy about candy or clothes or cute accessories too. I mean, she’s getting to that age… So I’ve got some special things set aside for her.”

“Giyaga…!” Dad shouted.

Mm? What’s that treasure box Mister Giyaga’s got over there…? Does he need to carry it into one of the cottages? Dad probably shouldn’t carry that. Should I help them?

“Dad, I can help you carry that if you want!”

“Ah! No, no, don’t worry about it!”

“Huh, but…” I started to say when a loud voice suddenly interrupted me.

“Daddy?!”

“Huh?”

A loud sound came out of a nearby carriage, and a pair of blue eyes locked on to us from inside.

Huh? What?

“Daddy?! What’s going on here?!” the voice from the carriage asked in an accusatory tone.

“Wait, what?!” I asked.

“N-Nakona?!”

“Whaaaat?!” I asked again, louder.

A girl jumped out of the carriage with a loud thud. She had pink hair tied in a braid on the left side. She looked about ten years old.

“Daddy! I asked you what’s going on here! Answer me!” the girl demanded.

“Huh, wait, ah! N-Nakona, why are you here?!”

“Forget that, Daddy! That girl just called you ‘Dad!’” she accused, pointing at me. “What does that mean?! You’re my Daddy, right?!”

An awkward silence hung over us for a few moments.

“E-Er…” Mister Giyaga stuttered.

The girl drew on Dad, who was flustered and out of sorts. Mister Giyaga was perplexed by this development, while I was just plain confused.

“N-Now wait, wait just a minute, Nakona. I can explain this, but before that, tell me what you’re doing in Giyaga’s carriage. Aren’t you supposed to be with your mother in De Marl…?”

“Don’t dodge the question!” the girl, Nakona, snapped at him.

“Fine, fine… She’s my adopted child, I suppose. I found her abandoned in the forest, and figured that if I left her there, some animal would eat her. So, I took her in… Er, it all happened after your mother and I split up…”

“Dad, you were married?!” I asked him, appalled.

“Ah, yeah… I was too caught up with work, and one day, she just left me a divorce letter and disappeared…” he said, a forced smile on his lips.

“Oh…” I said, full of guilt.

I’d only heard that Dad was a knight before he picked me up… But Dad was old enough to be married and have children.

Ooh… Really… So, Dad was…married before, huh… So, this girl is…Dad’s real, blood-related daughter…?

SERIOUSLY?!

“An adopted child!” Nakona said excitedly. “So you didn’t remarry, right, Daddy?!”

“Well… No, I didn’t…”

“Then… Well… But…” Nakona frowned, unsure whether she was satisfied with that answer or not.

What are we supposed to do about her…? I didn’t know Dad was divorced and already had a kid…

I moved through life without thinking too deeply about it, but Dad had had a whole life of his own before meeting me. He had an impressive job as a knight and only inherited the inn after losing his arm in battle. He told me that simple explanation, and I just went with it, but a person’s life can’t be summed up that neatly.

For example, in my past life, Mom’s husband…my dad from my past life…passed away from an illness. It was during my sensitive teen years, and, at the time, the entire situation was crippling. When he was told he only had a few months left to live, something about him changed.

He stopped caring about Mom and me and threw himself into a life of gambling, cabarets, smoking, and drinking…and he started beating Mom too. He fell into complete despair and self-abandonment and devolved into the scum of the earth.

Mom still earnestly thought of him as her husband and tried to get him to receive treatment, but it wasn’t long before the disease claimed him.

Looking back on it, I felt like I could understand some sliver of how he felt. Wanting to live freely, as you wish, with what little time you have left… I could understand how that felt. That wasn’t wrong in and of itself. But…being such a burden on his family, hurting us like that, it was selfish and laid out the rottenness of his soul to all who saw him.

I could hear some voice telling me that it was a family’s job to forgive things like that. And maybe that was right… Honestly, him being a burden on us didn’t matter all that much! But I felt like I had to ask:

How could you give up on your life like that…?

We’d be left behind after you’re gone. We’d still have to live on after you’re dead… Why didn’t you think of us…?

…To that end, I hated you, Dad. You shattered my ability to believe in people.

I suddenly felt a pair of pretty, cobalt blue eyes fix on me. The girl, Nakona, was glaring at me.

“Ah…! E-Erm, I…” I looked up at Dad for help.

Dad simply looked back at me, confused, his eyes the same color as the girl’s. I thought her eyes looked familiar. It was because they were the same as Dad’s.

Dad… Dad, huh…?

“E-Erm… I’m Tinaris…” I introduced myself.

“This is my Daddy!” Nakona cut me off aggressively.

“Oh…”

“N-Nakona?!” Dad looked at her, surprised. “Listen, Tina is…”

“I’m not giving him to you!” She clung to Dad’s knee.

“Nakona!”

Wh-What am I…supposed to do about her…? I hung my aching head.

She was right, and I…I also felt like I couldn’t trust father figures. Marcus was a nice, kind man, but he wasn’t my real father. But he did raise me… And at the same time, he was her blood-related father…

What do I…?

“…F-For now, how about we continue this talk inside?” Mister Giyaga suddenly suggested.

Another silence settled over us. No one objected.

Mister Giyaga’s caravan consisted of three large wagons, carrying twelve subordinates. They were divided into teams of three, consisting of an appraisal merchant whose job was to handle restocking, a silver-tongued salesperson who also knew all the trade routes, and a bodyguard.

Each group was in charge of different types of merchandise. Weapons and weapon-making materials, alchemy and medicinal ingredients, clothing, accessories and jewels, foodstuffs, curios… It was quite effective, and the groups were well sorted out.

A heavy silence loomed over our inn’s first floor, where our reception counter and coffee corner were. I tried making the supreme antidote but couldn’t concentrate on it with the pink-haired girl glaring at Dad and me in the room.

“H-How about I introduce you two, Tina?” Dad suggested.

“O-Okay…” I nodded vaguely.

“This is Nakona, my daughter from my ex-wife. She’s, uhh, ten years old right about now…?”

“Eleven!” Nakona corrected him sharply.

“E-Eleven years old. Five years your elder, as it goes… Hahaha…”

A difficult age… Especially when it came to how girls treated their fathers. I responded with dry laughter, just like Dad, but Nakona kept frowning at us like a dissatisfied cat.

Oh boy… This is trouble…

“So, uh, Nakona, it’s just you, right…? I haven’t seen your mother around…”

She stuck to her sour silence.

“Don’t make that face and explain yourself. I won’t get mad and send you back.”

“…Really?”

“Really.”

…It made sense. This girl, Nakona, was his daughter. His ex-wife took her when she broke up with Dad. Dad came home to an empty house, a divorce form, and a letter informing him that she was moving back in with her family. Their things were all gone too…

They very much walked out on him, though it’s hard to say how much Nakona was on board with the idea. She probably just followed her mother. Maybe she was happy to leave, or maybe her mother dragged her away…

I assumed what she’d say next would answer that question. Dad and I directed slightly nervous gazes at Nakona. If she came here to meet Dad, doesn’t that mean her mother took her away against her will?

“…Well, you see, Daddy…Mommy got remarried.”

Upon hearing those words, Dad looked up at the ceiling and sighed.

Whoa… This girl just dropped that bombshell right off the bat…

Hearing about his wife’s remarriage from his daughter… I had to cheer for Dad on the inside. Keep going, Dad! Live on! This talk’s just getting started!

“I told her not to… But Mommy said she loves that person! That she already has a baby in her belly!”

Dad’s silence was mortifying. He was shivering! His arms were crossed and he was looking up at the ceiling and trembling. I could almost see how fast Dad’s mental HP bar was depleting!

Stop it, Nakona! His mental HP is already zeroed out!

“I, uh, I…I see…”

That’s all you have to say in this situation?! Dad, you’re…you’re so strong! You really are a retired knight! Still pushing forward, even when you’re on the edge!

“And you know who she’s marrying, Daddy?! A knight who used to work with you!” Nakona dealt the finishing blow.

“Gfah!”

D-Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!

“The Captain of the Crimson Knights!” Nakona continued mercilessly.

“Him?!” Dad breathed out, slamming his fist against the table and rising to his feet.

“Dad!”

I didn’t know who that was, but Dad was livid. Nakona fanned Dad on further, slamming her hands on the table in imitation and exclaiming, “He’s trying to steal Mommy from you!” This prompted Dad to turn toward the table as he got up and whack his forehead hard against it.

It looked like it hurt, but I couldn’t blame him. His actual, eleven-year-old daughter just told him someone was “stealing his wife.” It had to be a painful thing to hear.

“…I had a feeling that would happen…” Dad said with a heartbroken voice. “They were always close and were extra friendly during parties in the castle… Looking back, Lico used to come to the Azure Knights’ barracks, crying about how Rondered wouldn’t look at her. She had me and Dir buy her drinks all night, crying about how Rondered wouldn’t pay her any attention…”

“Dad…” I said gently.

“Ah…! R-Right, sorry, Tina. Might be too soon for you to hear about things like that…”

I was an adult on the inside, so I understood. Dad lay face down on the table but raised his head upon hearing my voice and patted me on the head. He looked twenty years older, though…

“…We lived together in a small house, like the one we lived in with you,” Nakona said. “I said I was fine living there, but Mommy said she wanted a big house, with servants… So I went with her to that man’s house. And my room was really big… But there isn’t anyone there. Mommy doesn’t talk to me anymore, and she keeps bringing private tutors every day… But I don’t want to study! I can’t see my friends anymore and I have to eat all alone in my room! I don’t want to live like that!”

“Nakona…” Dad said, looking at her pitifully.

“…I hate studying, but…I can tell! I can just tell…Mommy thinks I’m in the way. She has a new man, and that’s the only thing on her mind! That’s the kind of woman she is!”

Dad looked up at the ceiling again. I could kind of tell what he wanted to say. Girls can grow up incredibly fast…

“I see. So…Mommy told you to come to me?” he guessed.

“No. I snuck out. I found Mister Giyaga’s caravan near town and asked if he could take me to you.”

“All right. I’ll send her a letter then.”

“What? No! If she knows where I am, she might come get me!”

“If you don’t want to go back there, you can stay here. If anyone comes to take you, I’ll send them away.”

“…Daaaaaddy…”

“But we need to tell her where you are. I’m happy you decided to depend on me… So I’ll keep you safe. Daddy’s on your side, Nakona.”

“…Daddy.”

I could feel their family bond tightening again from across the table. Marcus really was a nice man. He was trying to be a dad, and I thought it suited him, but…

What is this feeling…?

“Huh… Daddy, what happened to your hand…?” Nakona asked, her eyes widening.

“Ah…! O-Oh… Well, I lost it in the war. That’s why I quit being a knight and took over this place. Sorry for not telling you… Are you surprised?”

Nakona didn’t know about his missing arm. He might have a prosthetic now, but it was still his right hand—his dominant hand. He tried to pat her head on reflex before remembering his hand was gone. He always patted me with his left, so it never bothered me. He was like that for as long as I knew him.

But Nakona was in shock. I could tell that much from her expression. And it made sense. It was pretty daunting the first time you saw it, and she was only an eleven-year-old girl…

“Well, I guess we’re a family of three from now on. Nakona, you’re going to have to do your share of the work too! We don’t have enough hands on deck as—”

“A family of three?” Nakona repeated, shifting her eyes in my direction. “You mean, her too?”

“Huh?”

What is she implying…?

“Of course I do. I mean, she’s…”

“Daddy! You’re my Daddy! You can’t be anyone else’s Daddy!”

“Nakona, listen, I decided I’m going to take care of her…”

“…What… What are you saying?! Are you going to say you don’t need me either, Daddy…?”

“Huh? No, what are you…”

“Daddy, you dumb-dumb!” Nakona ran off in tears.

“Nakonaaaa!” Dad called after her but was cut off by the sound of her throwing the door open and dashing outside.

It was evening, and almost time for us to prepare dinner. Giyaga’s caravan would take care of themselves with the cottages’ kitchens, so we only needed to cook for ourselves. And we needed to prepare the baths, so we had to start cooking now if we wanted to make it in time… Buuuuut…

“…Dad, you should go after her. I’ll make dinner.”

“T-Tina…” Dad looked at me awkwardly. “Sorry!”

That girl was emotionally unstable…but I couldn’t blame her. Her mother remarried some rich man and got knocked up with his child… The woman she always thought was her mother suddenly became another man’s wife and the mother of someone else’s child.

Meanwhile, when I looked back on the day I “remembered” my past life, I couldn’t help viewing Marcus adopting me as something that sort of happened to someone else. But if I was her age, I wouldn’t know how to process any of it. I’d lose my nerves and just run.

But there was also another problem cropping up now…I couldn’t trust father figures. Marcus was a nice, kind man. I didn’t doubt that. But he didn’t feel quite like my father. I did call him “Dad,” but…I couldn’t really get rid of that distance. He wasn’t related to me, not really. This whole thing with Nakona only further reminded me of that.

I couldn’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if my Mom from my past life got remarried. Could I have brought myself to trust whoever she chose? No… I probably would have treated them the same way I treat Marcus. Even if I’d have gotten a new father, I probably would have treated him the same way. Because I…!

“Hello?” Mister Giyaga’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Whoa!”

Mister Giyaga peeked into the room from the open door. Apparently, we were too loud… I hadn’t said much, but Dad and Nakona were shouting.

“H-Hello. Do you need anything?”

“Are you done talking? Because… Oh? Did Marcus go to the toilet or something?”

“Ah, no, Nakona threw a tantrum and ran off, so he went after her…”

“Oh, my.” Mister Giyaga frowned. “Well, girls can be difficult when they get to that age…”

“Definitely…”

I couldn’t deny that. Not when I just saw how “difficult” she could be before my very eyes.

“But that’s going to be a problem…” Mister Giyaga scratched his head. “I wanted him to hear about it as soon as possible.”

“Hear about what?”

“Well, you see, there are apparently monsters prowling these parts…”

“M-Monsters?!”

Monsters—creatures that didn’t exist in my past life outside of fiction. According to the stories, monsters started appearing after Saint Akari-Berz purified the Primal Sin. As soon as she passed away, the monsters began growing in numbers. When a monster dies, it releases the Kathra—Primal Sin—within its body into the air, forming new monsters.

It was worth noting that Kathra was different from Camilla—the Primal Evil that formed Zombies. Zombies and monsters were technically different types of creatures.

Kathra was a punishment of sorts, enacted by the world on creatures that had committed crimes against it. It was, in a way, a manifestation of the sins they committed. On the other hand, Camilla was an aggregate of malice released by living beings capable of emotion.

Zombies are created when a soulless human body is filled with Camilla produced by humans. If left alone long enough, they can evolve into “human-formed monsters.” That’s because when left unchecked, Camilla can change into Kathra.

It was hard to grasp all of this at first, but put simply, monsters are created by sins, while zombies are accidentally created from human malice.

Zombies… Back in my old world, there were stories about human disasters or viruses that produced them. Like a dead baby’s grave filling with Camilla, and as it matures, it eventually rises from the grave and starts mutilating cattle and chickens… And when you beat it, it only produces more zombies…!

In fiction, of course. That never happened in real life.

But long story short, monsters were much more dangerous than zombies!

“I think De Marl dispatched knights to exterminate them, but killing the monsters scatters Kathra into the air, which produces more monsters, and I think the knights are really struggling,” Mister Giyaga said.

I hung my head, concerned.

“De Marl’s knights told me to let you guys know about it. They said you and your guests should avoid going out at night. But Marcus is a former knight, so he probably knows all that.”

“Y-Yes…”

Dad and I were often told to stay indoors after sunset. To that end, we couldn’t heat any bathwater after dark, but…

Oh no…

“Mister Giyaga, I’m sorry, the baths for the cottages…”

“Huh? Oh, yes. I understand, the monsters make it harder to schedule things… We’ll help boil them tomorrow, so if you could at least sell us some firewood?”

“…Yes, of course! I’ll have it prepared.”

“Aww, you’re such a dependable girl, Tinaris. You’ll make for a good bride someday…”

“Th-Thank you…?”

I was an adult on the inside, so I was a bit uncomfortable with that comment. I wonder how old I’ll have to be until men stop dropping these kinds of comments. Hopefully, they’ll stop once I’m not a little girl anymore.

But an inn that had its guests heat up their own bathwater… I couldn’t help but feel like our inn was doing things the wrong way. And the building was starting to show signs of wear too…

“This place is really starting to show its age, eh…”

“Y-Yes… I’m sorry…”

“No, I mean, I’m not as bothered by it as Marcus is. He’s wondering if you’d be better off closing the inn so you can go study in Saikorea.”

“Ah…!”

This question had probably been smoldering in Dad’s heart this whole time. He wanted to see me make the best of my talents in alchemy… But…

I looked in the mirror near the coffee table. My ears were growing pointy recently, and the fringes of my blond hair were a purplish-red hue. My eyes were crimson.

By comparison, the human customers that came to the inn mostly had brown hair. Bright hair colors like Nakona’s weren’t that unusual, but… The gradation in my hair and the color of my eyes were something I’d never seen in anyone else. My memory was understandably hazy by now, but I thought the “mother” I saw when I just came to this world had long ears too.

Even if I ignored my hair and eye color, I couldn’t ignore the pointed ears. And it felt like they were getting longer every year…

No, I’m just getting older. That’s all!

Or so I tried to tell myself, trying not to think too much about it. But could it be that I’m not…?

“Tinaris?” Mister Giyaga asked me.

“O-Oh, it’s nothing.” I shook my head.

“Do you want to study alchemy in Saikorea, Tinaris? I’m sure you can go far!”

“…I want to restore this inn! This is the house Grandma and Grandpa left us, so…!”

…Will that really be possible for me though? If Dad…Marcus chooses Nakona over me, I won’t be able to stay here any longer. And if that happens, I suppose I’d just…make a living selling the medicine I make with alchemy. And Sirius seemed to really like me. He offered me the opportunity to come to the Elven Empire of Forestria to get married, so at worst, I could pretend to take him up on that offer and study magic there.

Then I could go back to the human continent, study alchemy in Saikorea, and maybe open an atelier to make a living for myself… And if Sirius’ son is a nice man, maybe marrying him is an option after all…

“You’re a good girl!” Mister Giyaga said all of a sudden.

“Pardon?!”

“You’re such a good girl, Tinaris! I’m moved!”

“…Y-You’re exaggerating…”

“Here’s an idea! Why don’t you open a pharmacy by the highway?”

“A pharmacy?”

“Yes, yes. You could open a pharmacy and sell the medicine you make. They’re high in quality, so you could sell them for a little higher than the market price! That way, you can save up money and hire a carpenter to renovate the inn! I think it’s a fine idea!”

“Renovate…!”

Right, that was an option! But…renovate the place? True, it looked old, but the building was still solid and steady. It wasn’t like the roof was leaking or anything… If there was anything I’d outright change about it, I’d like to furnish the cottages and baths with a Heatstone.

Tinaris’ Note!

Heatstones are a material imported to the human continent from the dwarves’ country. Placing this unusual stone in water makes it heat up and boil quickly. When someone with mana touches them, they can boil water in the blink of an eye!

They’re supposed to operate on some kind of magic, but even humans can use it. I don’t know for sure, though, since I haven’t seen one yet!

“By the way, Mister Giyaga, can you get some Heatstones?”

“Heatstones? Ah, for the bath?”

“Yes. With seven Heatstones, we could easily boil the bathwater for both the guests and us.”

“I see. Well, we’re going to restock in De Marl’s market soon, and then we’re going to head back to the demi-human continent. We could stop at the dwarves’ country… With my merchant’s spirit and my love for you, I’ll definitely secure seven of them to bring back to you!”

“R-Really? But aren’t Heatstones expensive?”

“Fifty thousand colts for seven!”

“What?!”

“Well, fifty thousand if you haggle…”

“F-Fifty…thousand…colts…”

I had no idea how much Heatstones were naturally worth! Fifty thousand sounded about right though.

Don’t do anything crazy, Mister Giyaga!

But if he can really get seven of them for just fifty thousand…

“All right. If you’re willing to go that far, I’ll make sure to save up fifty thousand colts and wait for you.”

“Then it’s a deal?”

“As an advance, I’ll make sure you have ten supreme-grade antidotes by tomorrow!”

“Antidotes? You mean, with the things I brought you today…?!”

“Yes!”

The air between Giyaga and me shivered for a long moment… At least, that’s how it felt to me. The door was still wide open.

♣♣♣

THE next morning, I woke up in the attic.

Oh yeah, I let Nakona sleep in my room…

I didn’t mind. The attic was my second room, in a way. It was where I hid all the things Grandpa and Dad couldn’t see, since they didn’t suit a little girl. I actually felt more comfortable in the attic.

I slid out of bed, got dressed, and did a few stretches on the attic’s balcony. I did my hair, and as I did, I examined myself in the mirror. My ears were definitely getting longer… Much longer than they were when I was younger! I had to wonder if they’d end up being as long and pointy as elf ears. After all, Sirius was a half-elf, and now my ears were about as long as his.

I used hair bands to tie up my hair on the sides. That way, my ears would be hidden, and my hair wouldn’t get in the way.

Maybe I can make it into a bob cut and hide my ears that way? No…the wind might ruffle my hair, and they’ll be visible… Just growing it out so I can use different hairdos to hide my ears might be simpler. And cuter at that.

I tried not to think about it yesterday, but I really am a little…weird. Blond hair with naturally purplish-red fringes. Crimson eyes. Pointy ears. I always thought I was human, but demi-humans and Mythical Beasts lived in this world. And I faintly remembered the “mother” who gave birth to the current me, and she had elfish ears. And a stone embedded into her forehead too…?

“May the blood of the Stone of Daybreak never come to awaken.”

I’d forgotten all about it since I was so occupied with alchemy recently, but I should probably look into it. I want to ask Mister Giyaga, but what if he reacts with, “What?! You know about the Stone of Daybreak?! You’re a threat!” and throws me to the wolves…

I got the feeling this stone was related to why I was abandoned in the first place. It could be really dangerous! To that end, I decided to leave the matter be for now and look into it once I was old enough to investigate on my own.

And besides, I had a mountain of problems to resolve already. Now wasn’t the time to be caught up in this one!

“…Good morning,” I said as I went downstairs.

“Morning, Tina,” Dad said. “Sorry about yesterday.”

“It’s fine. I like being in the attic, anyway.”

Dad gazed at me with pitying eyes. I couldn’t blame him. His real daughter showed up, throwing tantrums and tears in every direction. Meanwhile, I was being visibly reserved around him. He probably felt bad and apologetic. But really, I didn’t mind. Especially when it came to the room.

“The attic’s bigger, so it feels like an improvement, really. Actually, do you mind if I make it my permanent room?”

“Tina, listen, you don’t have to force yourself…”

“I’m not forcing myself though. I’ve wanted to set up a medicine cabinet in my room but thought it was getting too cramped. So can I just keep using the attic?”

“…Thank you. I owe you, Tina…”

…You’re exaggerating…

“I’ll help you make breakfast. Oh, and Giyaga said they’ll take a bath in the morning, so they’ll need some firewood to boil the water. I’ll also be working on the antidote outside today.”

“Firewood? Got it… Just be careful with alchemy. I know someone who had their face blown off because of an alchemy accident.”

“I will!”

Talk about a scary story… I really should be careful…

“…By the way, where’s Nakona?”

“Mm? She isn’t up yet? What am I going to do with her…?”

“I’ll go wake her up,” I offered.

“Thanks. Tell her she won’t get any breakfast if she doesn’t get up.”

“Hehe. I will.”

Dad’s cooking didn’t taste that good, but he made food every day, never skipping a meal. In that regard, he…kind of reminded me of my mom from my past life. She would always cook, no matter how busy she was and despite not being good at it…

The father I knew from back then was the kind of scum that would cast mom and me aside, but Marcus was different. If he was what a father should be, maybe I could stand to trust him a bit more.

Not at once, of course. The image of the father I knew from my past life was too deeply rooted.

I’m feeling really confused now… Maybe I should just straight up start calling him Marcus instead of Dad?

I went up to the second floor, passing by Dad’s room and his study to the corner room.

“…Good morning, Nakona. Rise and shine.”

That was where my room was until yesterday. The bed, sofa, and closet were the same as they were before. The books Dad and Mister Giyaga got for me were still sitting on the bookshelf too.

If I was going to change rooms, I didn’t mind leaving the furniture behind, but I at least wanted to take my clothes and books back. I did take my clothes for the day when I left yesterday, but most of my things were still in this room. Nakona was older than me though, and wouldn’t fit into my clothes, so I assumed she’d hand them over if I asked.

…Wait, did Nakona even have any luggage? Does she have clothes to change into?

My call was met with silence.

“…Hello…?” I knocked and called out to her again.

I could hear her inside, but she didn’t respond.

Wait… Is that why…?

“Um, I’m just checking to be sure, but you don’t have anything to wear, do you?” I asked.

“…Yeah…” she eventually replied bashfully.

“…Mister Giyaga is here, so we’ll buy something you can wear from him. I’ll bring you your clothes with your food, okay?”

“…O-Okay.”

“What kind of clothes do you want, by the way?”

“Something easy to move in…”

“All right.”

I hurried down the staircase and explained the situation to Dad. Apparently, Dad didn’t think of that either and heaved a perplexed sigh. He then put Nakona’s breakfast on a tray, which I carried up to her.

At worst, she could be naked, so I simply left the tray on the floor in front of the door and called out to her. I then made my way to Mister Giyaga’s cottage, where I ran into Mister Drake, one of the caravan’s members, doing his morning stretches.

“Good morning, Mister Drake,” I greeted him.

“Good morning, Tinaris! Sure is nice out today.” He beamed at me.

“Yes, it is… Um, I know this is sudden, but I need to buy some clothes. And, erm, some underwear too…”

“Finally?! Wait here; I’ll go tell the boss!”

“Huh? No, not clothes for me…!”

Finally… Finally what?!

“Oh, you mean for the big sister?”

“Big sister?”

“That girl, Nakona. She’s Marcus’ daughter, so that makes her your big sister, right?”

…Oh. I guess that’s not wrong?

“R-Right… Anyway, she needs some clothes. She can’t leave her room otherwise.”

“The clothes she had on yesterday must have gotten torn or worn out when she was running away from Marcus… Ahaha! I’ll go get her something.”

“Th-Thank you… And sorry for bothering you so early in the morning…”

I didn’t tell him it was both of those things, if only to protect Nakona’s dignity.

After buying Nakona some new clothes, I returned to her room. I carried the empty plate and utensils back to the kitchen and left the new clothes in their place. Then I waited for Dad to come back from delivering the firewood to Mister Giyaga. As soon as he returned, we started eating breakfast.

Halfway through our meal, Nakona came down from the second floor, dressed in her new clothes.

“Morning, Nakona,” Dad greeted her with a smile. “Did you thank Tina yet?”

“Ugh…” She fidgeted uncomfortably as she looked at me. “Th-Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, cracking a slight smile. “Did the clothes fit? Do you like the way they look?”

“Yeah!” She nodded. “They’re a perfect fit and easy to move in too! I could beat up a bigbear with these!”

…Huh?

A bigbear… A large, carnivorous creature that inhabited Mount Rofola. It was similar to what I knew of as a bear, except it was twice as large and only subsisted on meat. It was essentially an apex predator.

I only bought you clothes… Not armor…

“Nakona, you do know those are just normal clothes, right…?” I asked her.

“I can’t see you beating a bigbear…” Dad agreed with me.

“Dad, that’s not what you should be pointing out…”

“Don’t worry!” Nakona puffed up her chest. “Back in De Marl, Uncle Gildias taught me martial arts and how to use a sword! I’m actually pretty good at fighting!”

“Gildias did what?!”

…Isn’t that the person Dad mentions every now and then when he talks about his time as a knight? One of his old subordinates, I think…

I suppose he respected Dad so much he decided to look after his daughter…?

“S-Still, bigbears are no good,” I told her. “We can’t cook them since they tend to taste like the last meal they ate, so we don’t hunt them.”

“Hm, what can we hunt, then?”

“Boars or bigboars. We can preserve their meat as jerky or dried meat…”

“Then I’ll go hunt a boar today! I live here too, so I’ll help around the inn!”

“W-Wait!” Dad stopped her. “Look, we do need to restock on pork, but it’s too soon for you to go hunting alone! I’m not letting you hunt when you’re not familiar with this mountain… If you want to work, you can chop the firewood. We do have the caravan staying here, after all.”

“Boo.” Nakona huffed grumpily.

“And you be careful with your medicine brewing, Tina,” Dad warned me firmly too.

“I will.”

I knew to be careful, of course, since I’d be making something new that day. And it mostly used toxic materials, so it required extra caution.

“Medicine brewing?” Nakona cocked her head quizzically.

“Yeah, Tina’s all sorts of amazing, Nakona,” Dad said boastfully. “You might not believe it, given her age, but she can use alchemy.”

“What?!” Nakona exclaimed.

“D-Dad…!”

If you put it like that…!

“H-Hmmm. Really now?” Nakona looked at me with hostile eyes.

She was positively glaring at me. But this time, she didn’t shout at me like yesterday—I guess she felt obliged because I helped out with her clothes. She probably had plenty of nasty things to say though.

“W-Well, I can do an eight-punch combo!” she eventually boasted.

“Huh?” I asked, unsure what she meant.

“Oh, really? That’s amazing, Nakona!” Dad exclaimed with a grin. “That’s my daughter!”

“H-Hmph!” she cooed grumpily.

…I don’t get it. Eight-punch combo? Is that a martial arts thing?

I was just happy she didn’t blow up at me again. And I didn’t want to see the clothes we just bought her get ripped like the ones she had on yesterday. We hadn’t even paid for them properly yet.

“Now then…”

Dad said he’d handle cleaning up after breakfast, so I prepared twenty empty medicine bottles and went outside. I stopped under a large tree near the lakefront. Lake Rhiode was the largest lake on the human continent, but… People in this world weren’t really interested in sightseeing. It wasn’t as large as Lake Biwa in Japan, but it was still big enough that you couldn’t see the other bank. It was large enough to fish in too.

But the only thing built around Lake Rhiode was the Rofola Lodge. It was a bit odd, but people in Wisty Air didn’t live in villages or towns, but mostly in “countries.” Different “countries” were connected by the highways, but the land between the countries and off the roads didn’t belong to anyone.

There were long distances to travel between countries, so the land between them was developed, and roadside inns and stores opened. To legally open a business, an establishment needed to receive a permit from at least two countries.

“Let’s get started.”

So if I were to open a pharmacy between this inn and the highway, I would probably need permits, right…? I’d consult Dad about it when the time came.

For the time being, I’d need to gather funds! Dad wouldn’t just kick me out… At least, I didn’t think he would… But since I carried the secret of the Stone of Daybreak, a time might come when I would need to live alone. And to that end, I’d need a fortune of my own.

The capacity to live on my own, a job that would enable me to make ends meet… To do that, I would need to start by geeeently concocting fifty low-grade tonics!

I didn’t have enough of the smaller potion bottles, so I also brought two big jars. These were called Economy Jars—they weren’t used by adventurers, but by merchants like Mister Giyaga. They used them when they needed to divide the materials they sell.

Each jar was worth about twenty little bottles. Filling up one of these was much easier than filling up twenty bottles one by one. This was how alchemical apothecaries mass-produced low-grade tonics.

One bottle was worth about two hundred colts, so a jar with twenty bottles worth of tonics was an easy way to make lots of money. Part of me wanted to produce more, but I’d eventually run out of ingredients. And, according to Mister Giyaga, even alchemical apothecaries used to crafting large quantities of medicine can only make one jar a day.

I decided I’d make two jars, and while I used the mana recovery technique, I’d start making the supreme antidote. Yep, the low grade-tonics were essentially me warming up.

“It’s ready!”

I poured the prepared tonic into the jars. Two full jars ready. Normally, each of these would cost four thousand colts, but since the tonics I made were all of good quality, their cost went up by an extra thirty to even forty colts per bottle. I could sell each jar for about five thousand colts! And two whole jars would be ten thousand colts! That would be enough for Nakona’s clothes with some money left over.

“Now for the antidote…”

Its ingredients were spring water, Solan flowers, and the materials Mister Giyaga brought me: Murder Moth scales, Deadly Scorpion stingers, Venom Lizard claws, and Toxic Serpent’s fangs. The water I used was from a waterfall on Mount Rofola, which meant it was high quality. I also picked the Solan flowers from the mountain.

Much like making a tonic, the antidote was crafted by mixing the water with the Solan flower and other ingredients and applying mana during the process. After the initial transmutation was complete, the concoction was left to simmer for a while, during which I was to add more mana and stir it.

I felt beads of sweat roll down my forehead. It was harder than I thought and took longer than I expected. I knew I’d walk away from this with my arms sore from all the stirring.

Grr, I gotta finish this, though… I said I’d make it.

I poured the water into the pot and then added the ingredients. As a safety precaution, ingredients with toxic properties were to be inserted and mixed while still in their bottles, with their lids open. You could loosen their lids but never open them completely.

“…Solan flowers, then the scales…and…”

I loosened the lids and dropped them into the pot. Once everything was in, I added my mana slowly and gently, and then it was time to mix!

Churn… Churn… Churn…

If I could make the supreme antidote, it might mean I was good enough to create high-grade tonics. Of course, a medium and high-grade tonic wasn’t potent enough to restore Dad’s lost arm, but a supreme tonic might be able to do it… If nothing else, the alchemy recipe book did say there were reported cases of a supreme tonic restoring lost limbs…

Dad… Marcus… The man who raised me. I’d often thought about how I could repay that debt. How I could return the favor for this kind man who raised a strange girl without ever complaining. And this was the best thing I could come up with.

My way of repaying him for everything would be the supreme tonic. That was what I decided as soon as I learned of the tonic’s existence, and right now, I was taking the first step toward making that happen.

I’ve gotta focus!

I concentrated my mind and body on pouring mana into the concoction. I sensed the Air around me…and took it in…

I’ll do it. For sure!

♣♣♣

MISTER Giyaga looked at the result with stunned silence.

“…Is this real…?”

“What do you think, Mister Giyaga?” I asked.

“W-Wait. I’ll try Appraising it…”

I looked up at Mister Giyaga full of anticipation. Dad, Nakona, and the rest of Mister Giyaga’s caravan crowded around us in front of the inn as Mister Giyaga appraised my supreme antidote. Everyone capable of Appraisal magic—Dad included—gazed at the bottle containing the bright-blue liquid I made.

That way, we’d know the quality for sure, but supreme antidotes were generally hard to come by. And as one might expect, there was no precedent of a six-year-old alchemist successfully brewing one…

If I made it, it would be an unprecedented event in this world—in human history! Or so everyone said, until I brought the actual bottle. I just hoped it worked out—I’d spent four hours brewing this thing.

“…Its quality is ideal. There’s no mistaking it… That’s a supreme antidote.”

“She’s a genius…”

“That’s incredible! It’s a real supreme antidote! Tinaris, you’re a genius!”

“I can’t believe a six-year-old girl made this…! Even the larger countries can only produce a few supreme antidotes every year! What will the alchemists there think?”

“This really is impressive… And it’s ideal quality too! That alone should double its price!”

“Aah, aaaah! Indeed! Indeed, indeed! You could even present this as a tribute to the elf king and the dwarf king in the demi-human continent! Forget five thousand colts; I’ll pay a full ten thousand for this!”

“Ten thousand?!” My mouth fell open. “Huuh?! W-Wait, are you saying one bottle alone is worth ten thousand colts?!”

“That is exactly what I’m saying! Five thousand is for good quality antidotes, but yours is ideal quality! Tinaris, you shouldn’t let the other merchants haggle you down! That won’t do. I insist you sell it to me for full price!”

“…D-Dad…?” I looked to him for help.

Was it really worth that much? Could medicine really be that expensive? I looked at Dad, who was examining my other successful bottles with his Appraisal magic…

Why is he looking at them with scary eyes like that…?!

“I can’t believe it… I… I always thought you were incredible, Tina, but this… Making a supreme antidote at your age…”

“Is it really that incredible?” I asked.

“Incredible doesn’t do you justice. There’s only one alchemist in the entirety of De Marl who can make a supreme antidote! And the handful of alchemists who can make it are so busy with work, they only make a few every year, if at all… And since it’s a tricky antidote to get right, their quality is usually just standard… I think this is the first time I ever saw an ideal quality one…”

“Grr…” An ominous growling reached my ears.

Aaaah, Daaad, Nakona’s glaring bloody murder at me! She’s a kid who thinks her mother betrayed her, and you’re all she has! Stop doting on me and pay attention to her! If you keep praising me instead of her, she’ll blow up at us again…!

“Tinaris, I’d really like to buy one of these off of you,” Mister Giyaga said. “Ten thousand colts, what do you say?”

“Aaah… D-Dad, can I really sell them for this much…?”

“Yeah, that’s about the market price. Well, maybe calling it market price is wrong… It’s not exactly in circulation. You really are one incredible girl… It normally takes inexperienced alchemical apothecaries thirty years before they are capable of making things like this.”

“R-Really?!”

“Really. The only alchemist I know in De Marl who can make one of these is Elysis. And in Edesa Kura, there’s Reiden… Saikorea has two, Shary and Mei… Those are the only four alchemists I know who can make something on this level.”

Only four people on the whole continent?! W-Woow… I, er, might have actually pulled off something amazing… Wait, no, my goal is to make the supreme tonic! This was just a stepping stone for that… It was just practice, but…

“So, um, maybe I can make a supreme tonic now that I’ve made a supreme antidote…?”

“Oooh! Aiming high! Ambitious, aren’t you?”

“A-Ambitious…”

I was under the impression that alchemy’s final goal was to create the Philosopher’s Stone or something like that… But apparently it wasn’t? Was the supreme tonic the highest you can aim? I could ask, but I didn’t think Mister Giyaga would know the answer to that.

“Uh, no, I want to make the supreme tonic because…” I trailed off, unconsciously looking in Dad’s direction.

I wanted to restore Dad’s arm… I’d heard losing his right arm made him retire from the knighthood. And even with his wooden prosthetic, he still struggled with everyday tasks. The prosthetic had fingers, but they were like a doll’s, and if he needed to grip something, he’d have to bend them one by one. And, of course, they didn’t have much grip strength.

It was also quite heavy, but this didn’t bother him as much since he was a former knight… But still, it didn’t help him with work. And since his right hand was his dominant hand, he struggled whenever he had to write with his left, which was a waste of paper. And he struggled with opening doors too, since he wasn’t left-handed…

“…You don’t mean my arm, do you?” Dad asked, looking at me quietly.

“E-Erm…” I looked away awkwardly.

I mean, I’m not your real daughter, so I have to repay you for taking care of me. And I thought…this would make you happy.

“…She’s an angel.”

“Such a good girl!”

“…Can the world be so kind…?”

Mister Giyaga and the people from the caravan started to praise me, all of them covering their faces with their hands and looking up. What’s gotten into them?

“I’ll get the money ready right away!” Mister Drake said excitedly. “It’ll be 14,000 colts for each bottle! I’ll raise the price!”

“Wait! What do you mean, you’re raising the price?! I can’t let you do that; you brought me the ingredients! At least deduct their price from the cost!”

“Aaah, look at this sweet angel that descended upon us!” Mister Giyaga said, overcome with emotion.

“Seriously, what’s gotten into you?!” I finally asked.

“Fine, we’ll deduct the cost for the ingredients,” Mister Drake said, smiling at me. “It’s back at ten thousand colts then.”

“Mister Drake!”

Just the ingredients are expensive after all! And you’re selling it to me for ten thousand colts after deducting them from the price?! This is so much money, I don’t know what to do!

“Now you have the money you need, right?” Mister Giyaga beamed at me.

“…Mister Giyaga…” I felt tears build in my eyes.

The money for the Heatstones… In the end, I balanced out everything I owed him.

“All right, then we’ll buy ten of these ideal quality supreme antidotes! And after I deduct the cost of the Heatstones you asked for, it’ll leave you with fifty thousand colts.” Mister Giyaga placed a pochette in my hands. “Oh, and you can have this pouch as a bonus from me. I thought it’d suit you.”

“Oh, thank you…” I muttered, unable to keep up with everything.

“Wait, what’s this about Heatstones?” Dad asked, confused.

Oh, drat. I never consulted Dad about the Heatstones, did I…?

“Oh, erm, I’m sorry, Dad! I just moved things along without telling you… Actually, I…”

I told Dad about my exchange with Mister Giyaga.

“Tina… You worried about that too…?” Dad asked, visibly moved.

“She’s a little angel,” one of Giyaga’s merchants said.

“An angel.” Another one nodded.

“A future saint,” Mister Drake added.

“Bow your head before the saint!” Mister Giyaga ordered.

“S-Stop it!” I waved my hands, flustered.

Why do these people keep treating me like this?!

“…And you still ended up earning fifty thousand colts…” Dad eventually said.

“Yes, the fee for the Heatstones is already paid for,” Mister Giyaga told him. “Leave it to me; I’ll get you seven Heatstones from the dwarves’ country!”

“Yeah!” Mister Drake said firmly. “If it’s for you, Tinaris, you can be sure we’ll put our all into getting those Heatstones!”

“Th-Thank you so much!” I gratefully bowed my head.

That sounded promising! With Heatstones, we’d always have hot water for our six villas and our bath… We wouldn’t need to chop firewood to boil water anymore!

“So, what are you gonna use these fifty thousand colts on?” Dad asked me.

“Hm, I’ve actually been wondering…could we make a place for selling medicine near the highway? We don’t have anything to tell guests which way leads to the inn, and some of them don’t even know it exists at all, so…”

“Ugh…” Dad grimaced. “Y-Yeah, we are a ways off the highway, aren’t we…?”

Since we didn’t have a sign, I figured I’d rather just tell guests where it was and increase our traffic that way… And since we didn’t have enough hands on deck to support a lot of customers, I figured I’d sell my medicine by the highway to make sure we don’t go into the red and let people know about the Rofola Lodge while I was at it. I could be the inn’s poster girl…literally!

…But what if people just go with the flow and, after buying medicine from me, say, “Maybe I’ll just stay here.” I’ll have to explain I can’t accommodate them myself…

“I’m not letting you live alone by the roadside,” Dad said gravely.

“Yes, I understand how you feel,” Master Giyaga joined in. “Given the things she’ll be selling, it might be dangerous.”

“But…” I uttered.

It was Mister Giyaga’s idea to begin with…

“But I do think having a roadside apothecary would help travelers…” Dad continued pensively. “And it’s not like we have that many customers coming in. We’re free most of the day…”

“Yes, and a store that sells provisions might be helpful too…” Mister Giyaga appended.

“You’re right. People run out of provisions and condiments along the way, and it’s hard to get a hold of those on the road…”

“Spices are especially expensive…”

“And a place to bathe too. Travelers can’t do that without going into a country. So an inn on the roadside might be good for that…”

Hmm, aah… What? How about…?

“Dad, I have an idea! A way to spend those fifty thousand colts! How about paving a road to the hot springs?”

“Huh? Where did that idea come from?” Dad asked.

“Hot spring…?” one of Mister Giyaga’s workers, a female merchant named Merilia, repeated my words.

She’s already interested! How didn’t I think of this sooner?!

“Yes! We can pave a path to the hot spring halfway up the mountain! There’s only a trail there and getting back is a little hard. But if we paved a good road, we’d be able to offer a hot spring as an extra feature on top of the baths in the cottages! It’ll attract more people! Though we’ll need to renovate the hot spring, so it’s separated for men and women, and set up dressing rooms…”

“Do you really think a hot spring will attract more guests…?” Dad asked dubiously.

“Absolutely! Especially ladies!”

“I agree with her one hundred percent!” Merilia backed me.

And we can make a footbath and sell hard-boiled eggs cooked in the water…!

For a moment, I wondered where we’d set up the hot springs themselves, but… We can figure that out after we pave the road up the mountain!

“And you can make seasonings and spices using alchemy, can’t you?” Mister Giyaga suggested.

“Y-You’re right! So long as I have ingredients for it…”

“You can create them with alchemy, right?”

“Yes! Dad, what do you think…? I’ll give up on selling on the roadside, but if it’s near the inn…”

“Near the inn, eh…? Well, so long as you’re within sight, I suppose…”

“I’ll learn how to cook! I’ll make yummier food! How about we make a space people can dine in even if they’re not staying at the inn? And we can expand the coffee corner inside… Guests could enjoy the hot spring and then eat outside while enjoying the view! And we can set up a counter for selling medicine and spices in the corner of the dining area… What do you think?!”

Dad crossed his arms, thinking things over. I tried calculating things and estimated just paving the road would completely deplete the fifty thousand colts I made, so we’d need some extra money.

So I figured we could make a little café and integrate the apothecary with the dining area! That way, we can make money and save up for building and maintaining the road to the hot spring!

And by the time we do that, we’ll probably get the Heatstones, which will lower the workload of heating the water and make it easier for the guests to bathe whenever they want.

“It’s not a bad idea, but can you really manage all of that? You’re only six years old, Tina.”

Ugh!

I couldn’t forget that. Dad certainly didn’t!

“We’ve got our hands full as it is whenever we have guests, and having more buildings to manage might be a bit too much for us. And it’s not like everyone who walks down the highway are nice travelers. If you want to sell expensive medicine and spices, I can’t agree to it until you get a strong bodyguard.”

“R-Right…” I muttered, a bit disheartened. “That makes sense…”

When I was washed down the river, the first people to pick me up were bandits. The highway might be dangerous if people like them are loitering around… Even if I’m near the inn, spices and medicine often rise in demand, so our profits could be quite generous. More money would mean a greater likelihood of drawing attention from bandits.

Hmm… I’m going to need some kind of security…

“But the hot spring is a good idea,” Dad added with a smile. “I’m not sure even fifty thousand colts will be enough to pave that trail, but I’ll check with people I know from De Marl. I’ve got connections with a few construction workers.”

“Mmm, construction isn’t quite my field of expertise, but I’ll negotiate so you can get stone for cheap, Tinaris! And I’ll be heading to De Marl, so I can talk things over with your acquaintances, Marcus.”

“Could you? Wait a while, then; I’ll go write a letter.”

It didn’t go quite as I planned it, but we’ve been thinking of paving a road to the hot spring for the longest time anyway! I would love to make an herb garden too, but that’s just my personal wish… And it’ll be pointless if, in the end, I can’t keep living here. I can’t just leave them with a garden they don’t need…

“I think that’s a great idea, Tinaris!” Merilia said, brimming with excitement. “You came up with this trying to implement what we told you, right?”

“D-Dad’s right though…”

“Yes, but you can do what you want even without a new building, right?”

“How?”

“This inn has a coffee corner with a counter. You can just put out a sign near the highway that says you’re offering medicine, spices, and seasonings for sale. This’ll get people who don’t know about the inn to come, even if it’s a bit off the beaten path. And then they’ll learn about the inn in the process.”

“True… Our first priority should be getting guests to come to us.”

“Exactly. Supply and demand is the basis of all business.” Merilia nodded. “And it’s up to us merchants to mediate for people with a demand with people who provide supply. And your medicine is definitely in demand, Tinaris! That sign will be your way of supplying it. For now, you can start with that. It’s all about taking that first step!”

“R-Right!”

Just a sign could be enough…I might’ve been overthinking things. It can be as simple as making a basic sign. Oh, but I’ll need ingredients to make spices and condiments…

But while I was lost in my reveries, none of us realized Nakona had left the room without us noticing.

♣♣♣

“NAKONA? Nakona, where are you?!”

“Nakonaaaaaaaa!”

“Hey! Nakona! Where did you go?!”

“Nakonaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

She was gone! We only realized it after Dad finished writing his letter—sloppily, with his left hand. Mister Giyaga brought up her absence after taking the letter. She was there just moments ago, but suddenly we couldn’t find her in any of the rooms…

She wasn’t familiar with the area yet, so going out without an escort was still dangerous. She could get lost.

“Dammit, why does that girl have to be so troublesome…?” Dad muttered nervously. “Sorry, Giyaga… Could you get everyone to help look for her?”

“Of course, you can count on us.” Mister Giyaga smiled kindly. “What with the monsters loitering about recently, letting a child run around would be awful!”

“Thanks, I owe you… I’ll go check around the mountain. Take care of Tina, would ya?”

“Of course, of course. Merilia wants to stay here with little Tina, right? Just let us know if Nakona comes back.”

“Will do.”

Yeah… Mister Giyaga did mention that monsters were seen around the mountain… Nakona, where did you go…? Why do girls your age have to be such attention seekers…?

“Tinaris, let’s wait for everyone to come back at the inn, okay?” Merilia told me, taking me by the hand.

“Erm, can we go after I put the leftovers from the supreme antidote into bottles?”

“There’s still some of it left over?”

“Yes. I figured I should have some on hand, since venomous snakes live around here.”

“Really? Well, I guess you do live near a mountain… Could you make some supreme antipyretic next? There’s a disease going around the kobold country in the demi-human continent. They call it speck fever, so they need something to deal with it. If a supreme antipyretic is too much to ask for, then any fever medicine you could make should help…”

“Fever medicine…? If low-grade antipyretic’s good enough, I can make it right away. It just needs water and Lilith flowers. Oh, but I’ll need to head into the mountain to pick the flowers…”

“Oh… Well, drat. We could have asked your father to get some… Fine, I’ll go then. I’ll be right back, so wait inside the inn, all right?”

“Okay.”

Speck fever… I’ve never heard of that disease. But I imagined epidemics must really scare the merchants.

Hm… I think I still have some spring water bottled up. Oh, right, Mister Giyaga gave me that pouch earlier. I can keep the bottles there instead of placing them in the pot. Glass bottles tend to shatter…

A Nyu Pouch… I can’t help but want to use it. I should thank Mister Giyaga again for it later. Hehe… Looking at the tonic bottles lined up next to the supreme antidote makes me feel like I’m an adventurer now.

“…Ah!”

But as I carried my pot and staff from the lake back into the inn, I saw a flash of what looked like Nakona’s back. She was running straight for the highway.

Wh-What… Wait, she was hiding the whole time?! But why?! Everyone ran off to look for her!

“Nakona! Wait!” I left my things behind and took off after her.

Oh, just stop…! You might be a kid, but there are some things you just can’t do! If you have to cause trouble for someone, let it be your family. Even Mister Giyaga’s out there looking for you…!

“Haa, aaah… W-Wait…!”

We were both kids, but she was eleven years old and I was six. I was no match for her stamina, but I couldn’t give up.

You selfish little brat…I’ll drag you to Dad and he’ll scold you until you learn your lesson!

“Haa, aaah, aaah!”

How…is she…aaah…so fast…?! Hii, hii… My throat’s so…dry… Aaah… it hurts!

“Haa, aaah… L-Leave me alone already!” she snapped back at me.

“Haa, hii, urgh…!”

“Wait, you sound like you’re dying!”

By the time I caught up to her, my knees were shaking. Or, well, my whole body was shaking. I thought my young body could handle the strain, but I guess I was wrong…

“Why did you follow me…?! Why you, of all people?!”

“Ugh, aaah, phew!” I tried to answer, but I was still gasping for air.

“…A-Are you all right? C-C’mon, take a seat.”

“Haa, haa, haa, haa!”

“F-Fine, I’ll go get you some water… Stay put, okay?”

Like I have a choice…after all that running! I feel so dumb, going after you!

The girl I was chasing is looking after me… I guess that means she’s kind at heart at least.

“Here you go.” She came back, carrying water in her cupped hands.

“Th-Thanks…”

She did spill most of the water on the way back, but I can’t complain. I drank the water from her hands, which refreshed me.

“Thanks, Nakona.”

“D-Don’t mention it…” she said awkwardly. “Why did you come after me anyway?”

“…I’m sorry. I just happened to be the one to see you… Dad…I mean, Marcus should be looking for you up on the mountain.”

Nakona’s expression was still displeased. I wanted to scold her, but I was still short on air… And she did bring me water. Also, the thought of her being all alone in the world with only her father to rely on did make me relate to her. She wasn’t unlike how I was back in my old life. Though, I still felt that she was a little too spoiled…

“…You don’t have to correct yourself,” she mumbled.

“Huh?”

“I mean, you don’t have a mom or dad, right? So call him ‘Dad.’ I mean…I do get it. Lashing out at you isn’t right.”

“…Nakona…”

“But I just…ugh! It pisses me off! I can’t help but get angry! He’s my daddy… I’m his daughter, but…what if Daddy doesn’t want me anymore, just like Mommy doesn’t?! Where do I go?!” Nakona clenched her teeth, tears welling in her eyes. “Why… Why was I even born…?!”

“Ah…”

She really is just a kid trying to cope with growing up. Hehe. She’s becoming an adult… It’s heartwarming…

I didn’t mean to poke fun at or patronize her though. She was serious about what she said.

“…You really love Dad, don’t you?”

“Th-That’s not it… I mean, I do like him better than Mommy right now. But I think I like him as much as anyone likes their Daddy. I mean, I don’t really know him that well.”

“You don’t?”

What does that mean? She doesn’t know her father…?

Seeing my puzzled expression, Nakona crouched next to me, hugging her knees. She then buried her face into her lap as she muttered, “…Ever since I was born, Daddy was out fighting in wars. He was a knight vice-captain, so he had no choice, but… He was never in the country. He kept going from one expedition to another. He’d come back for a little while, but it was always late and when I was asleep. And then he’d go back to work again. He’d hardly talk to me or play…”

“I see…”

“Mommy was always angry at him and was only happy when she went out for parties in the castle… But she was never around, every day…”

I could only listen in silence. I felt bad for her.

“…I spent every day outside until sunset, playing with kids in the neighborhood, or learning how to swing a sword from the knights… And I just had to watch all the other kids get taken home by their parents…”

Her life was harder than I thought…

My life’s been full of ups and downs from the moment I was reborn, but after Marcus picked me up, and I came to the inn, everything was pretty peaceful. The only real problem was the lingering mystery of what the Stone of Daybreak was. That and Grandma and Grandpa passing away, but that’s just life. And they passed away with their faces far more serene than the father in my past life did… They looked satisfied with their lives.

Nakona lived with her mother, but she was still neglected… It sounded awful.

“What did you do about food?”

“…Mommy always left me money. Instead of making me food… So, I had the knights take me to a dining hall or a pub to eat… Looking back on it, they weren’t knights that worked with Daddy. They were all from the Crimson Knights… Mommy was probably going out with the captain of the Crimson Knights even back then… That’s why his knights looked after me…”

That sounded like a complicated story… But leaving your lover’s child with your subordinates was…bad. On a physical level. She’d have been much better off with Marcus…

“Actually…”

“Y-Yes?”

“I think the captain of the Crimson Knights was married. At the time.”

“…I think I’ve heard that, yes.”

“I looked into it, and apparently, he married the former captain’s daughter to inherit the role.”

“Erm, then that’s…”

“A political marriage, yeah. But even if he doesn’t love the woman he married, it doesn’t mean he can just hit on someone else’s wife!”

“Y-Yes! I totally agree!”

“Right?! That’s just common sense…! But Mommy just let him flirt with her! Why did she even marry Daddy to begin with?! I mean, I was angry at Daddy for never being around too! He just left us behind and went to play in his stupid wars! Just wars and wars all the time! It’s like war was the only thing he cared about!”

“U-Uh…”

I don’t think he liked going to war…

Wars were one thing I didn’t really research much about. All I really knew was that there was a country called Edesa Kura that insisted mankind was a superior race and invaded the demi-human continent. An alliance of human countries led by De Marl tried to stop their ambitions.

De Marl made an alliance with the elven, dwarven, and other demi-human countries, becoming a center of trade. But even among the demi-humans, there were races like the lizardmen and ogres who insisted their species was the strongest and rejected contact with mankind. In fact, they even attacked humans on sight!

Those circumstances placed the world in a state of temporary chaos, but De Marl advocated peace and was able to quell the hostilities. De Marl sounded like a lovely country, and that was the ideal Marcus fought for. I thought it was a good thing.

Obviously, I felt bad for Nakona, who was neglected because of that, but…

“…I think you were pretty lucky, Nakona.”

“How come?”

“I mean, you can just go and meet your Mom and Dad if you want… But me, I…”

The first woman I saw in this world. She had golden hair, blue eyes, and a scarlet jewel embedded in her forehead. That was the mother that gave birth to me, and the brown-eyed man with the mustache next to her must have been my father. They sent me down the river with tears in their eyes…

They likely ran into some kind of inevitable circumstances… But even so, they abandoned me. Where could they be now?

“Don’t you have any clues about them?” Nakona asked me. “I mean, the parents who abandoned you…”

“Um, I have this.”

“What’s that?”

I held up a pendant. Dad turned the gray stone he found me with into this pendant. I called it gray, but it wasn’t the same as a pebble. It had a glassy texture and was sheen with a unique shade of gray.

The Mythical Beast that saved me and had Marcus adopt me called it a pact stone. But he also said it’s only valuable for those who have made the pact… But since they left this stone with me, it must have some kind of meaning.

“I think they’re dead. My real parents,” I confided in her.

“Dead…?”

“It’s just a feeling, but…I can kind of tell…they’re not alive…”

This stone was like gray glass. It must have been because…it didn’t belong to me. And if that was the case…I got the feeling this wasn’t the stone’s natural color. It was cold to the touch, and even if I closed my fingers around it, it felt as if the warmth was leaving my hand.

It looked like a stagnant-colored pebble the size of my thumb, but I could tell it was more than just that. And something inside me told me clearly… Those people are gone.

If they were alive, I’d have quite a bit to complain about… But for some reason, the feelings flooding into me brought with them a surety that I’d never see them.

“…No…” Nakona clasped a hand over her mouth.

“So that’s why… Your mother and father are still alive… You can meet them again, if you want… So, don’t say those kinds of things.”

That was the face everyone showed me when I said my parents passed away. “I’m sorry,” they’d say. “I didn’t mean it like that,” they’d say… And start being needlessly considerate. And I could never tell if that consideration came from genuine kindness or from regret at having stumbled into an awkward situation.

But you, both of your parents are still alive… You can still repay them for everything. And I’m jealous of that. Your mother may have betrayed you, but she didn’t abandon you; she still took you with her when she left. She was so occupied with herself she ended up neglecting you, but she’s only human too…

You’ll probably get it when you’re a little older. Especially when it comes to romantic feelings. Not that I’m one to talk about that… Ahaha…

“…Yeah… You’re right.”

“…Let’s head back then.”

“Yeah, let’s go home. I should tell Daddy I’m sorry.”

“Yes. I’ll apologize with you.”

“…By the way, why are you always so polite?”

“Pardon?”

I mean, that’s because I’m…

“If you’re Daddy’s daughter, that means you’re my sister. So stop that. It’s gross. We’re family, so you don’t have to be so tense and formal.”

“Erm, but…”

“Oh, right, I’m older than you, and you became Daddy’s daughter later. So I’m the big sister, right? Right! So you can call me big sis! I’m giving you special permission.”

“E-Er…”

Th-This is going a bit too fast! How do you open up to someone that quickly?! And big sis? I can’t call you that, I’m twenty years old mentally! No way! I can’t!

“…Oh yeah, what was your name again?” she asked.

“T-Tinaris.”

“Okay, Tina, then!”

And she’s so flippant. What is this childish quality…?!

“…And, um…” She then spoke up, scratching her cheek awkwardly.

“Yes?”

“…Do you know how to get back home?”

Upon hearing her ask something that made her fail as the older sister, I decided I’d just keep calling her Nakona. But I was all for going back home. I looked around, but apparently, we were in the woods.

“…Where are we?” I asked aloud.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know either.”

“Er…”

The sun was still high in the sky, but we were surrounded by the woods. Looking around, I couldn’t spot a road, and the inn wasn’t in sight either.

This is bad… There could be bigbears and boars in the woods… And Mister Giyaga mentioned those monsters too.

“…By the way, where did you get that water from…?” I asked Nakona wearily.

“Over there.” She pointed at a trickle of water flowing between the rocks.

“Spring water…”

If we could follow it back to the river, we might find our way back to the lake…

“Let’s trace back this stream…”

“Wait! I just heard something weird!” Nakona said, her expression turning severe.

“Huh?”

A weird noise…?

Smash, crunch, crunch…

She’s right… I can hear something. It’s creepy… Are there bears fighting out there or something? But it sounds like it’s coming closer…

“Watch out!” Nakona called out, lunging at me.

“Aaah!”

Nakona pushed me down, and the moment we landed on the ground, something black and elongated passed above our heads. It looked like it was coated with black fog and was large enough to mow down the trees. As Nakona and I fearfully looked up, it reared its head to look at us.

It was a red-eyed creature, with a long, black tongue slithering out of its mouth. It had an elongated body wider than any of the surrounding tree trunks, and its black body was covered in smoke-like fog.

At first, I thought it was familiar, but then I realized that it was an entirely different kind of creature than the black beast that saved me when I was a baby.

“I-It can’t be…” I stuttered through chattering teeth.

“H-Huh…?” Nakona eyed me fearfully.

This wasn’t an animal. Nakona and I were both frozen in place by the ominous, sinister feel of its presence. It was a snake-shaped…monster.

Yeah, this is probably a monster…

It was the first time I’d ever seen one, but some part of me could tell.

I couldn’t begin to guess what it was thinking as it watched us, staying still. But it probably…wouldn’t let us go peacefully, would it…?

“Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Ah!”

It was said monsters attack and kill anything alive. And having decided that we counted as living beings, the monster opened its mouth as wide as it could and aggressively lunged at us. There was nowhere to run.

But then, Nakona covered my body with hers.

Y-You idiot, no, don’t! Why would you do that for me?!

“Gatling!”

“Hisssssssss!”

My eyes widened in shock as the sound of gunfire boomed in my ears. A large man in dark-blue armor rushed over and stood between the snake and us. Everything was happening so quickly I couldn’t keep up!

But I did notice the man was holding what looked like a gun in his hands. I didn’t know this world had guns!

“Phew… You all right, girls?”

“You’re…”

“We can talk later. I have to fend him off. Stay by my side, got it?”

“…Y-Yes.”

The armored man had a skull-shaped helmet, and upon closer inspection, his dark-blue armor was scraggy, rugged, and scary-looking. He looked like some kind of cartoon character… And, well, like a bad guy, honestly.

Still, I knew well enough to listen to what he had to say. The monster was by far the biggest threat.

“Gyshaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Tch…!”

Snakes are exceedingly agile creatures. I wasn’t all that knowledgeable about animals, but I’d seen documentaries about animals on TV, and snakes could move very quickly when hunting prey. That seemed to apply to this serpent monster too, as it rapidly slithered between the trees.

The man spread his legs, stabilizing his posture as he raised his palms in the direction of the serpent, as if preparing to catch it. The snake slithered around freely while the man struggled to aim at it, moving his palm in the direction the serpent was moving in.

But upon closer inspection, I noticed part of the knight’s leg armor seemed to be damaged…

No, it’s melting! He’s hurt!

“Ah…” I opened my mouth, but I realized now wasn’t the right time to speak up.

At first, it looked like the serpent was retreating, but before we knew it, it had slithered around behind us. The knight twisted his body and fired a ball of light from his palm. It missed its mark, mowing down the trees instead. It was powerful, but it couldn’t defeat the monster if it didn’t hit…!

“Ah…!” My eyes widened in realization.

No, he couldn’t defeat it! Because that monster’s body was full of Kathra! The moment it dies, it would release all that Kathra into the air, turning everything around it into monsters. So, if that knight defeats it now…

The two of us fell into stunned silence. We finally realized just how dangerous the situation really was. We would either be killed by that monster… Or the knight might kill that monster by mistake, becoming a monster himself. The only scenario we all walk away from here alive is one where the knight repels the monster.

Each time the serpent moved, the knight had to adjust his aim. The knight seemed to be adept at fighting from a distance, but it was hard to settle his sights on a target that moved this fast. Which meant this was a bad match for him…

Is he waiting for help? Reinforcements, maybe…? Because things aren’t going to get better… Isn’t there something I can do to help!?

“Haa, haa…” The knight started gasping for air.

Something was wrong. His breathing was gradually becoming labored. Meanwhile, the serpent was slithering around us, closing the distance little by little. The knight fired a bolt of light, which it dodged by moving away. It was a cycle with no end in sight. But something was wrong. It was like the serpent was waiting for something…

“Ugh!”

The knight fell to one knee, as if withstanding pain. Was he hurt…? He was bleeding… And given how much blood he lost, it made sense…

Wait… Blood?

“Ah!”

There was purple fluid melting the armor on his leg!

Is that venom…? Of course it’s venom! It’s a serpent monster!

“Are you poisoned, sir?!”

“Ugh… Yeah. It’s embarrassing to admit it, but… That thing weakened me and it’s waiting for me to fall over… You two should run away…”

“N-No…!” Nakona’s face clouded over with despair.

…Yeah… If you knew this might happen, you wouldn’t have insisted on hiding from everyone…

“Don’t you have any other knights working with you?” I asked him.

“They’re all dead,” he replied bitterly.

“Oh no…”

“I’m sorry… As a knight of De Marl, I don’t want you to see me be so…pathetic. But I’ll cut open a path. So you two, run and head for the highway. There should be an inn to the east of here.”

“But what about you…?”

“I was looking for the right place to die. And if I can save two little girls from dying, then it’s a good way to go… Now listen…I’ll give you the signal to run, so wait until then…”

Wh-What is he saying?! A place to die?! Huh?! Why? Why is everyone in this world like this?! Why do they all have to be so pessimistic?!

“Stop screwing around…” I muttered under my breath.

“Huh?”

“What?”

The knight and Nakona eyed me oddly for a moment.

“…Mister, take this!” I said, taking one of the supreme antidotes I made that morning out of my pouch.

“…That color… Is that a supreme antidote?!” The knight turned to look at me in surprise.

The serpent didn’t ignore that opening. It lunged toward the knight, who fired at it to push it back. It really was keeping its distance until the knight collapsed from the poison!

What a nasty creature…! Too bad for you though. I still need to repay my debt to Dad…and the black beast that saved me when I was a baby… I can’t die again until I do! I refuse to die with that regret!

“I’m not sure about its effect, but I had it Appraised using magic, and they said its quality is ideal. Try it!”

“Why do you have something like this…?”

“…I’ll distract it!” I said resolutely. “Take that chance to purge the venom and heal your wound!”

“Are you mad, girl?! Don’t be reckless; that’s a monster!”

“I’ll do it!” Nakona rose to her feet.

The girl who stood there wasn’t the same one who was shaking from fear and about to burst into tears of despair just moments ago. She clenched her fists and glared at the monster.

“I am Nakona Ril! My father is Marcus Ril, former vice-captain of De Marl’s Azure Knights! I won’t be careless! I’m not very experienced, so I think the most I can buy you is thirty seconds!”

“…You’re…Marcus’ daughter?!” the knight asked, surprised.

Wait…Dad has a last name?!

It wasn’t a trivial detail, nor was it obvious. From what I knew, only people who ranked very highly in a country had last names. But then again, he was a vice-captain, so it made sense he would have one…

“I’m going back to Daddy, so get out of my way, you monster!” Nakona shouted at it.

“Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” The monster screeched as it slithered toward Nakona.

Nakona jumped to the side as it went after her.

“Mister!” I said, stuffing two bottles into his hands.

After a moment of contemplation, he looked as Nakona bolted away and shook his head. Accepting the bottles, he took off his helmet’s lower section, uncorked them, and gulped down the two tonics at once.

♣♣♣

“TINA! Nakona!”

“Daddy!”

“Dad!”

After walking along the highway for a few minutes, we found the road back to the inn. The knight followed us, dragging his injured left leg. He put on his strange helmet again as he headed with us toward the inn.

He was our guest for today, it seemed. As the inn came into view, we found Dad running toward us as Giyaga’s group stood in front of our house and waved.

Our big adventure, which lasted less than an hour, came to an end. But for how short it was, relief still flooded me.

Ah, it’s over…

Nakona dove into Dad’s chest. He embraced her and then kept running to meet me.

“Tina! You’re back too! Thank goodness…!”

“…Yes, I’m back…” I said awkwardly.

He crouched down in front of me and hugged me along with Nakona. Thinking back on it, I had to admit that it really was a small miracle neither of us got hurt, given what happened. But looking at Dad, who was crying with relief, all of that felt oddly inconsequential. All the tension in our bodies and the shackles binding our hearts loosened… The entire day left me exhausted.

“I’m sorry I made you worry,” Nakona said.

“You better be, because you have no idea how worried I was… Dammit! I thought I was going to go crazy! It felt like the end of the world…! I’m so glad you two are safe! Aah, Gods of De Marl… You have my thanks…!”

His left arm shivered. He held us so tightly, it almost hurt. But his embrace is so warm and caring too. Is this what it means to have a real “dad?”

Thinking back on it, I couldn’t recall my father in my past life ever hugging me. Marcus would always pat me on the head, but when he hugged me like this, it was somehow…different. It made me feel like this really was Dad…

My Dad…

“Tinaris! There you are!”

“I’m so glad you’re so safe!”

“Yes, thank goodness…! Wait… Huuuuuh?!” Merilia screamed.

Everyone else looked in the direction she was pointing and took a staggering step back. There stood the knight in blue armor… And yeah, looking at him now, he would look pretty scary at first.

“You’re… Is that you, Lico…?!” Dad asked him, surprised.

“It’s been a while, Marcus.”

Huh? He knows Dad…? He did say he’s a knight from De Marl…

Dad slowly let go of Nakona and me and rose to his feet. As he did, with his back to the sunset, the knight removed his helmet with a metal clicking sound. And then I saw his face, which I didn’t pay any attention to earlier because I was so caught up with the situation…!

“Aah…!”

“Eeep…!”

Me and Nakona… No, me and everyone else present, except for Dad, let out a startled gasp. Because half of the knight’s exposed face was covered by his long, bluish-purple hair. But as the wind gently brushed his forelocks aside, it revealed that the right half of his face was burned off and didn’t have any skin… The right side of his lips was gone as well, exposing his teeth and gums…

Aaaaaaaaah…!

“Oooh, Licorice! It really has been a while!” Dad said with a smile. “You said you’d go get us some booze and never came back. I was sure you died or something!”

“Yeah, well…” the disfigured knight responded tiredly. “There were some problems with my divorce papers, see… A lot happened…”

“Ah… Oh, I see… So that’s what happened… I guess we both got the short end of the stick with that one, huh…? Ahaha…”

“We sure did…”

“Ahaha… Haha…”

…What is this weird atmosphere?!

“…Do you know this person, Marcus?” Mister Giyaga asked Dad.

“Sure do! You probably know the name. One of De Marl’s state alchemists. Captain of the Ebony Knights, an order focused on using alchemy for offensive purposes, Licorice Avide. One of my old colleagues.”

“Wh-What….?” Mister Giyaga stuttered.

“A state alchemist…?!” I whispered.

“Name’s Licorice. Licorice Avide.”

A state alchemist… An alchemist recognized by a country, as the name implies. There are only a handful of alchemists like that in general—maybe one or two in every country! Even larger countries like De Marl and Edesa Kura had less than five! And this person is…one of them?! Really?!

“Huuuuuh?!”

“Wait, did you just say Licorice?” Mister Giyaga eyed the knight in shock. “You’re a woman?!”

“Huh? What? What?!” Nakona exclaimed.

A woman?!

I was just as surprised as Nakona. This was a woman!? And I called her “Mister” the whole time?! Whaaaat?! It wasn’t just that the big bulky armor hid the fact this was a lady. She was also about as tall as Dad!

“And your last name is Avide?!” Nakona continued. “But Avide is! Dad, wait, isn’t Avide the same last name as the Crimson Knights’ captain…?!”

“Y-Yeah… Licorice is Rondered’s, erm…well, his ex-wife.”

“Huuuuuuuuuuh?!”

“What?!”

That was probably the most shocked I’ve ever been—both in my past life and this one.

♣♣♣

“HERE you go.”

“Thanks. Your daughter’s tonic did a good job though. I should be good to return to my trek tomorrow.”

“Really? That’s good to hear…” I said.

After dinner, we sat at the coffee corner, where Dad gave Miss Licorice the fifth dose of tonic. We only had low-grade tonics handy, since I didn’t have ingredients for a medium-grade one. So we compensated by giving several doses of low-grade tonic to heal her wounds.

The supreme antidote completely got rid of the poison, making the spot where the serpent bit her an ordinary wound. She took off her armor, which revealed she was, indeed, quite the large woman… A giantess, if I can call her that.

She was taller than Dad, and everything from her shoulder width to her buttocks and breasts were larger than most. The right part of her face was covered by her hair, and the flesh was red and festered, while she lacked the skin around her mouth. Her lips, and part of her gums, were missing too… What could have done this to her?

She gulped down five doses of low-grade tonic, also known as the healing salve… But the wounds to her face showed no signs of recovering…

“Looks like it’ll leave a scar …” Dad said, fixing a gaze on her leg.

“Meh, I don’t care. What’s one more scar at this point, eh?”

“Yeah, I suppose. Scars are a source of pride for a knight, but uh…”

“It really doesn’t matter. I live on my own anyway.”

A heavy silence hung between us, but the woman simply laughed. We still couldn’t believe that Dad’s ex-wife, Nakona’s mother, decided to remarry this lady’s ex-husband! It was such a mess, I had no idea where to even begin untangling it! Dad might have felt the urge to apologize, but it was her ex-husband that took away his wife to begin with!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! What am I even supposed to say here?! What is this messed-up situation?!

“Hm, Miss Licorice,” I asked, groping for a way to move the conversation along. “You’re an alchemist, right?!”

Yes, that’s a good one! I’ve been meaning to ask that!

Dad mentioned she was an alchemist. A state alchemist, acknowledged by a country! Talking to such an impressive person was an honor. I hoped she could tell me things I didn’t know about alchemy!

“Yeah, I am. What about it?”

“W-Well, actually, I’m studying alchemy. Could you teach me a few things?”

“…That supreme antidote and the tonics from earlier—I think Marcus said you made those…?”

“Ain’t she amazing? My little girl’s a genius!”

“Dad, can you stay out of this for a bit?”

…Seriously, even Nakona’s keeping quiet out of consideration. Read the mood!

“Yeah, if she can make a supreme antidote, she’s a genius when it comes to patience. I couldn’t make something like this.”

“…You couldn’t?”

“You’re an alchemical apothecary, right? Well, I’m an alchemist. You know how those two are different, right?”

“…Alchemical apothecaries use alchemy to concoct medicine… And alchemists use it to make other things. Right?”

“Right. Alchemists are broadly divided into two branches. One uses the craft to make medicine and food. Those are alchemical apothecaries. Everyone else is just called alchemists. Well, there are a lot of different branches within alchemy too… I’m considered an offensive alchemist. The kind that’s specialized in using alchemy in combat. So, you and I operate on different systems of alchemy.”

“O-Oh… I see…”

It was a roundabout way of saying no. Which kind of stung. But it did explain her fighting style in the forest and the way she shot orbs of light. She produced the sound of gunfire despite not holding a normal firearm. That must have been done with alchemy. It was different from magic, something that was closer to science.

But I wasn’t sure how she actually fought. That must have been the difference between an alchemical apothecary and an alchemist.

“I probably can’t answer your questions. But if you want to ask me anyway, I’ll answer what I can.”

“Ah…! Th-Thank you! Then, erm…”

There’s so much I want to ask, but…

“What’s the highest an alchemist can aspire to?”

Stories I’ve heard in my past life about alchemy often mentioned the Philosopher’s Stone, but… Mister Giyaga made it sound like the supreme tonic was actually the highest achievement. But maybe alchemical apothecaries have a different objective they can reach?

“It depends on the person,” Licorice replied.

“…That makes sense,” I mumbled.

Well, that was an obvious answer.

“Then do you know how to create a supreme tonic? From what I hear, it’s been made before, but… The recipe is very vague…”

“A method to make the supreme tonic hasn’t been established. There are reports of a few successful cases, but they weren’t transmuted using the same recipe or by the same method. Saikorea has records of the recipes those successful cases used, but from what I hear, none of those recipes have produced a second successful sample.”

“Really…?”

“Alchemical recipes are only considered successful when they always produce the desired result. So the supreme tonic is considered an illusory concoction—one that doesn’t have a recipe. Still, alchemical experiments come with dangers. Establishing a new recipe no one’s made before requires both skill and guts. Otherwise, you’d end up blowing half your face off in the middle of an experiment. Like me.”

H-Half my face…

Dad did mention an acquaintance who burned their face off using alchemy… He was talking about Licorice.

“I…I understand.”

“Now then, girls, go to bed,” Dad told us. “It’s time for us to have some adult time.”

“What does that mean?!” Nakona hurried to her feet.

That sounded kind of pervy!

Or so I thought, but Dad took out five bottles of liquor. Nakona stared at him with an utterly exasperated expression.

Y-Yeah…I know what you’re thinking…

“…All right. Yeah. I’m tired. We went through a lot today. Good night!” she said, storming out of the room theatrically.

“Good night, Dad. Miss Licorice, thanks for all your help today.”

“Yeah. Same here.”

“Good night. Sweet dreams, Tina.”

Nakona probably picked up on the clue. And it made sense. With a day like this, he’d need a drink, wouldn’t he…? I went up the stairs to the second floor, where I found Nakona heaving a deep sigh.

“So awkwaaaard!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe she was Mommy’s lover’s ex-wife… It feels so weird…”

“Y-Yes… She did not seem to care about it much though…”

“I told you to stop talking like that,” she snapped at me for falling back into a polite way of speaking.

“S-Sorry.”

“…Still, I thought we were gonna die back there.”

“Yes… I mean, y-yeah.”

“But you’re a big part of why we’re safe. Thanks, Tina.”

“No, not at all… You were pretty amazing too, Nakona. The way you just stood up to that monster…”

“C’mon, call me ‘big sis.’ Where do you get off just calling me Nakona, huh?”

“Erm… B-But it feels weird calling you that…” I said, fidgeting.

“I’m five years older than you!” She insisted.

“Well, yes, but… Aaaah…”

She started squishing my cheeks.

Ugh… I know a kid’s cheeks are soft and squishy, but… Aaah, cut it oooooout!

“…I was really scared,” Nakona said, letting go of me and shivering at the memory.

…Yeah. I can imagine.

She was still only an eleven-year-old girl. I was surprised she could even bring herself to say and do what she did back there. True, she was only distracting it, but it was still a monster.

In the end, Licorice’s attack blew off the monster’s tail, forcing it to run away… But if she wasn’t there, we wouldn’t be fooling around like this now.

“I understand what you meant back there. I really am blessed. Mommy and Daddy are still alive, and I can still meet them if I want.”

“Yeah.”

“…Say, what do you think I should do? Go back to De Marl or…”

Should she stay with Dad or go back to her mother, who had remarried? Well, I was more of a mommy’s girl, so my first thought was to tell her to go be with her mother, but…

“…I think you should go wherever you want to be. Both me and Dad are on your side no matter what you choose.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, let’s sleep in the same bed tonight!”

“What?”

“C’mon, it’s…you know, to celebrate the fact we became sisters,” she said, gripping my hands tightly.

So she said, but I got the feeling she was so scared from what happened earlier today that she didn’t want to sleep alone.

Hehehe… Guess I have to, huh…?

“Sure.”

I was pretty scared too, so…let’s sleep in the same bed tonight…Big Sis.